"I come from a family that figured out how to build, when the world was designed to stop them."
My great-great-grandfather Joseph Martin Fugett was born enslaved, escaped during the Civil War, settled in upstate New York, owned a blacksmith shop, and held a U.S. patent by 1888. His son, Joseph R. Fugett, my namesake, studied at Cornell and became a longtime principal in West Chester, Pennsylvania. On my mother's side, my great-grandfather J. Howard Payne Sr. was among the first 36 African American attorneys admitted to practice in Maryland, and built a career in law, real estate, and politics. His Baltimore home stands on the Pennsylvania Avenue Heritage Trail. My late uncle Reginald F. Lewis became the first Black American to build a billion-dollar business empire. I am the fifth generation.
Fugett Labs is named in Joseph's honor. See his 1888 patent and read his full story →
I learned judgment at 13.
At 13, I sat alongside my father during a $1.8 million NFL contract negotiation with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. That's where I learned that the most consequential decisions happen in the room, where relationships and leverage meet. I've never left that room.
Since then I've worked across nonprofit, government, and private ventures: raising capital, structuring deals, advising a family office, building companies, and serving on the boards and commissions where public and private money meet.
